‘Returning to campus has evoked so many emotions,’ says Terry Senior

Schools around the world have been faced with new challenges. After closures, many were left wondering how they could resume classes in the safest way possible. In our exclusive interview with Terry Senior, Founding Principal of The Hamilton International School in Qatar, we look at the safety measures they’ve implemented, as well as the overall experience of returning to campus during a worldwide pandemic.

What safety measures have The Hamilton International School taken to protect students & staff on campus?

In our truly global world, schools have been challenged with having to adapt to ensure learning is continuous while keeping their communities safe. In line with the guidelines issued by the MoEHE, The Hamilton International School has implemented enhanced health and safety protocols, ensuring that our community comes back to a safe environment. We are fortunate that we can offer our parents flexible learning options so that they can choose what is best suited for their children. While over 60% of our students have returned on campus for onsite learning, parents have the option to choose online learning or a blended approach. Our spacious campus in Mesaimeer allows us to cater to all our students, onsite, 5 days a week.

Alongside the visible additions of sanitization areas, thermal temperature scanning and signage around the schools highlighting social distancing, some of the changes we have implemented include but are not limited to, maximum class size of 15 students, changes to movement around the school and new pick up and drop off procedures. In addition, we are ardently enforcing the practice of ‘safe bubbles’ within the school so that each student has a safe space to learn. We shared a comprehensive welcome pack outlining all of our enhanced health and safety measures, with families before the start of the academic year. This can also be found easily on our website.

While the physical health and safety of our families remain paramount, we are also placing an emphasis on ensuring the wellbeing of our community. We have already partnered with Hamad Mental Health Services to provide a webinar that provided advice about dealing with this pandemic for families. For this initiative, we looked beyond just bringing the Hamilton community together, as we know this is a subject that can support families in the wider community. We invited all families to be a part of this free event because we want to support as many families as we can.

What teaching approach is THIS currently following?

The Hamilton International School is owned and operated by International Schools Partnership, which also owns Park House English School. The school is currently offering onsite learning for Pre-KG through to Grade 8, 5 days a week, for the 2021/2022 academic year. Teaching a high quality bespoke international curriculum in the Early, Primary and Middle Years with future expansion to High School. Whether through distance learning or onsite learning, student progress and Amazing Learning at Hamilton has not stopped.

In our Early Years, students continue to enjoy learning through a holistic enquiry and play-based approach that covers all curriculum areas including personal, social and emotional development. In the Elementary Years, students continue to be academically challenged by our cross-curricular units. We often convert entire classrooms into multi-sensory experiences, as these are the foundation of a rigorous academic program; as an example, one of our classrooms recently became the planet Mars. This year we continue to do all of this, but in an environment where the new safety guidelines are put in place.

Middle Years students at Hamilton are part of a REAL (Rigorous, Engaging and Ambitious Learning) educational experience, which is aligned with the International Middle Years Curriculum (IMYC). Our Middle Year teachers create opportunities for cross-curricular learning, by developing lessons that combine subjects.

Hamilton’s Middle Years’ students have just completed a project in Visual Arts which combined cartography, the study of maps, with graphic design, to create fantastic map prints. Our students’ creative flair and digital diligence have produced high-quality maps that rival globally trending commercial designs. Now they are starting an exciting and challenging unit that includes market research, concept design, hand drawings, physical material selection, design of mood boards on MS Publisher, final concept review, design in CAD programs and then concluding with 3D printing. And all this with adherence to our strict safety protocol so that Amazing Learning continues.

The IEYC, IPC and IMYC curriculum is taught in over 2,000 schools and 98 countries, making it a truly global and international curriculum. The school will offer a NEASC accredited US High School Diploma or IB Diploma to students who are preparing for entry into the best international universities. The great thing about our international curricula is we meet both the UK and US standards. Our curriculum is made up of UK standards, the US Common Core, as well as the Singapore and New Zealand curricula, all put together in a rich international curriculum.

Can you tell us your personal experience of returning to campus amidst a pandemic? 

The entire experience has evoked so many emotions. My first priority was focused on ensuring our community’s safety on our campus. Over the summer months, our team worked tirelessly to get the school ready to welcome our students to a safe and secure environment. Being a part of a global group like International Schools Partnership (ISP), we were able to leverage the best practices that were implemented from other ISP schools around the world. We were uniquely positioned to be able to offer our parents flexible learning options this year. They could choose to continue with the high-quality distance learning provision that we offered last year; they could choose to have their child attend school every day onsite, with enhanced safety protocols; or they could choose a blended model that combines the online and onsite learning.

Even though we have experienced challenges due to the pandemic, there are so many opportunities that have arisen as a result. We have spent quality time with our families, and we were able to slow down and take stock of what is ultimately important. The entire community at Hamilton came together to ensure that learning for our students did not stop. Also, I wanted to ensure that just because we are wearing masks, we will strive to maintain our humanity and ensure that we are able to connect with one another in a unique and special way.

The majority of our families have chosen to have their children back at school with us for onsite learning every day, and you are able to feel the happiness of being back from, both the school team and the students.

What has been your school’s biggest strength in terms of adapting to the current situation?

The strength of our community at The Hamilton International School has been overwhelming.  Our amazing teachers have dedicated countless hours to ensuring their students have adapted to the new normal, are being continuously stimulated and challenged and feel connected. Parents have been understanding and supportive and our open-door policy, ensuring a productive feedback loop, has been an enormous benefit. Our wonderful students have embraced the changes and have truly stepped up to the challenge of adapting to the environment.

How can schools in Qatar better prepare themselves for school closures, if they were to occur again?

At The Hamilton International School, we believe the partnership that is developed between students, teachers and parents, is one of the most important factors in ensuring that a student progresses to unexpected levels. This partnership, coupled with engaging and challenging lessons, has the ability to ensure high-quality learning is taking place regardless of if a school is closed or not.